Wounds
by ReedusLover3
Summary: A fractured girl with no intent of wanting to live anymore. She finds herself being held back from death by Caesar Martinez but she has no idea why he gets under her skin so much. Martinez/OFC/Daryl
1. Chapter 1

**Wounds**

**Reeduslover3**

**** Trigger warning with somewhat severe language, intense situations, sexual scenes, suicidal thoughts and actions etc. Beware if you read ****

I had been walking for nearly three days straight and I had yet to find any source of food or water to sustain me. The Georgia heat was blistering and sweat coated my frail body like a second skin, suffocating me. Maybe this would finally be the day I died. Morbid, right? Yes, but all I wanted to do was die and I had been waiting for awhile now.I would have killed myself sooner but I couldn't find anything sharp enough to cut my veins, or a way to drown myself. I could easily throw myself at one of those zombies but that was too much pain. I mean, getting your flesh ripped off bit by bit while they tore at you with their fingers and teeth? I could never bring myself to do it, it scared me more than anything. Sure, death scared me but I was going to embrace it when I die- no regrets at all, just silence and blackness.

I wasn't always this way, it all started when the outbreak happened and I was hiding. After I lost my uncle and cousin in the swarm of people I ran through the forest, dodging those biters and hiding out. I was okay with losing my uncle, he was my legal guardian and when he got angry he would burn me with his cigars constantly. It wasn't often, the times he did it were spread out, but I had a lot of scars from it. A week after my family and I got separated I found a small cottage that only held a bed and a pantry of canned foods. I thought I could survive by myself in that cottage but something bad happened. One day after I had finished eating my dinner I was preparing for bed when I could hear voices outside the cottage.

Panicking I tried to hide but there really wasn't anywhere except the small pantry closet. Hiding the best I could in the cramped space I tried to maintain my breathing but it came out in pants, terrified breaths. They were men, it sounded like two of them but there ended up being a third, I found that out myself. The men found me- they were surprised but that turned into something else. Malicious intent is what they had and that night I was raped. All of three of them at different times, taking turns and holding me down, making sure I wouldn't be able to fight back. I was battered and bruised and wanting to die after that. The men left me to die on the floor and took all of my leftover food.

Ever since then I knew I wanted to die. So here I was, walking in the heat to try and find a way to kill myself. A lake maybe or a gun that was miraculously laying around in the street, but that was highly impossible. I could barely walk now and I saw black dots in my vision, was this it? Was I goner? Could I finally reach my goal of dying? I kept walking, willing myself to pass out faster and luckily I did. Stumbling around like one of those biters would I lost feeling in my legs and crumpled to the hot asphalt and soon I was surrounded by the welcomed darkness. The last thing I saw was the black expanse of the Georgia highway and the blue, cloudless sky. Beautiful.

* * *

Bright lights. That was the first thing that I saw when my eyes fluttered open and it burned. Immediately shutting my eyes I groaned from the intense glow. Is this heaven? If it is, then it's way too fucking bright. I cracked my eyes open only to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring back at me. Jumping fear away from the eyes I heard a small tinkle of laughter, like a bell jingling.

"You're awake, I see." A woman's voice that was particularly high yet soothing stated. "You've been asleep for nearly two days, honey." My eyes focused and I eyed the middle aged woman in front of me. She was fairly small, but not as small as I was. She looked to be about five foot five with a petite body and brunette hair that was cropped to her jawline. Glancing around I noticed we were in a small white room that had two chairs, a table in the corner and a bed that I was currently on. "What's your name, honey?" The woman asked sweetly, her eyes shining.

"Marilyn." I coughed out quietly. "Am I dead?" A laugh escaped the woman's lips, it was another one that resembled a bell ringing and she smiled.

"No, dear, you're very much alive." My heart dropped and my eyes went downcast, I wasn't dead? "I'm Amy. I'm a nurse, well, I was before the outbreak." She said sourly and handed me a plastic cup filled with water. Chugging down the contents I noticed how insanely thirsty I was. "You were severely dehydrated when you got here."

"Where's here exactly?"

"Woodbury." Amy refilled my glass. "A small town that we blocked off when the outbreak started. None of those _things_ can get in here."

"How did I get here?" I asked, anger evident in my voice. Amy frowned at my tone and looked mildly confused at why I was angry. "Well?" I was suppose to die, not wake up in some weird town that I had never heard of!

"Philip, or the Governor, and his right hand man found you. One of those biters almost got you but Martinez killed it. You were lucky."

"Why didn't they just leave me?"

"Honey, you were still alive. They weren't going to let an innocent person be eaten by one of those flesh eaters." I didn't say anything. I was pissed that those two men fucking saved me, they just made this whole situation harder. "I'll go get Philip and tell him you're awake. He would like to talk to you." I nodded and watched her leave and once she was out of sight I began searching the room. I needed to find something to end myself here before Amy came back with the mysterious man. A knife or a scalpel, anything! Just my luck, there was nothing at all. What kind of "doctor's" office is this? Defeated, I sat on the bed and stared at the white wall in front of me. White was officially my least favorite color. About ten minutes later Amy returned with not just one man but two. One man was tall, above six foot, with sandy blonde hair that was neatly combed and navy blue eyes. He was clean cut looking and business like, something that usually wasn't seen during the apocalypse. The other man, though, was vastly different than the first man. He was tall too, near six foot, with cropped black hair, tanned skin and chocolate brown eyes. He looked rough, hardened by the outbreak and everything else life had handed him.

"Amy said your name was Marilyn, correct?" The first man asked me, stepping forward. "I'm Philip Blake." His hand shot out as a gesture for me to shake it but all I did was flinch away in fear. He frowned and shot a glance at the other man. "This is my right hand man, Martinez." He motioned to the rough looking man who was staring at me intently.

"How are you?" Martinez asked, his voice husky, making me shiver.

"Horrible." I answered with resentment evident in my voice, hoping he knew how mad I was. Philip and Martinez looked at each other with blank faces.

"Uhm, maybe we should let her rest. We'll leave you alone, Marilyn." Amy coughed and guided the two men out of the room. Martinez gave me one last glance and then he was out of sight. How was I going to get out of here? All I wanted to do was to die and now I had to find another way to do that. Why did Martinez have to save me?


	2. Chapter 2

**Wounds**

**Reeduslover3**

**** Trigger warning with somewhat severe language, intense situations, sexual scenes, suicidal thoughts and actions etc. Beware if you read ****

I had been in Woodbury for nearly a week when I was finally well enough to take a tour of the town. Amy was taking me out this afternoon to walk around and to show me my new apartment apparently. When we exited the doctor's office I was surprised by the amount of people walking around. Everyone was happy and smiling, their faces showed no terror about what lay behind the guarded walls. It overwhelmed me, suffocated me.  
"It's such a nice day out!" Amy chirped and gave me a smile. "Little chilly due to the upcoming winter but still a perfect day." She started talking about how everything was built and such, how big Woodbury was and many other things. I was zoning out after she told me that Woodbury took up ten full streets along with three cul-de-sacs. "Oh! Martinez!" My snapped up at her words, seeing the rough looking man walking towards us. His hands were in his jean pockets, which happened to be dirty, and a black shirt with a jacket over it. On his head was a wore out baseball cap that he had on backwards. "I was just telling Marilyn about Woodbury. I was going to take her on a tour."

"Want some company?" He asked, glancing at me.

"Well, actually, I need to check up on Mr. Jacobs." Amy gave a puppy dog look to the younger man. "Would you mind taking her and showing her around?"

"Sure." Martinez nodded and before I could even protest, Amy was off and rushing away to some foreign house. "Come on." The man gestured for me to follow him. We walked towards the front gates where two guards sat in lawn chairs. "We have guards up twenty-four seven and the walls are checked regularly for any cracks. Curfew is at dark and only authorized people are allowed to roam the town." Martinez waved at the guards and gave their greetings. He was obviously one of those authorized people. "We have about seventy-two people living here, all in the confines of the walls."

"Were they all here before or did they just find this place?" I asked.

"Some were hiding out in buildings and others just roamed inside. The walls weren't up until a little while ago so it wasn't as protected." I nodded and followed him down the road. We were both silent and I coughed lightly which made him look at me.

"Why did you save me?" My voice cracked slightly.

"What?"

"Why did you save me?"

"You weren't dead, I wasn't going to let that biter gnaw your foot off." He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Maybe I wanted to die..." I mumbled and Martinez froze at my words, his eyes locking with mine. "Are we almost done?" I asked.

"Uhm, yeah." He didn't move for a minute or so before clenching his jaw and swinging around to walk away. "I'll show you Mr. Jacobs house." I followed him quietly, wondering why he was so pissed. We walked further down the street and walked down a small alley that had ivy growing up the buildings. We walked down another street with much less people moving around it and stepped up onto a porch of a tiny house. He swiftly knocked on the door twice and not only a minute later Amy answered the door.

"Done already?" Amy smiled, oblivious to how tense Martinez was. "Can you do me one more favor?"

"What?" Martinez asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Can you show her her apartment? It's the one above yours, conveniently. The Governor said that that one was the only one empty."

"Whatever. Come on." Amy gave me a sheepish smile and shut the door after we got off the porch. Martinez led me down the street and to a corner duplex that was covered in ivy as well. He opened the door and pointed to the stairs. "Yours is up there. Key is under the mat." Martinez left and entered his own apartment, slamming his door and locking it. Grumbling under my breath I climbed the steps and found myself at a door. A black mat sat in front of the door and I lifted it to find a single silver key. Sticking the key in the lock I swung the door open to see a small living area with a shabby couch and coffee table. Shutting the door I walked further into the small apartment to find a tiny kitchen with a table that had two chairs in the area. Down a narrow hallway was a nice sized bedroom with a queen sized bed and a tiny walk in closet. Next to the bedroom was a bathroom with a bathtub/shower which I thought was nice, it even had warm water. When I had finished looking around I went and sat on my new bed and felt enormous pressure fall on me. Anxiety washed over me, like a weight pressing against my chest and making it hard to breath. Laying back on the bed I felt tears roll down my cheeks and I let out a horrendous sob, it echoed throughout the room. For the next couple hours all I did was cry, and sob, letting it all out until nothing was left. My throat felt raw and my eyes dry and puffy from crying for so long.

(Triggering scene, don't read if you will get triggered by this. Skip to where the paragraph starts with a ** or read if you wish)

When I felt like moving I walked to my kitchen and got a small glass of water. Sipping it lightly I shut my eyes and heard muted shuffling and things being moved around in the apartment below me. Martinez must be home still. Putting the cup in the sink, I opened the drawers in search for something sharp. There had to be one in here. There were no knifes sharp enough but I found a pair of scissors I could use. Heading towards the bathroom I turned the sink on and took the scissors to my wrist, making a shallow line at first. Blood lightly trailed down my arm into the sink, washing away with the water. The pain was minimal and I felt an immediate release of anxiety and depression. Making three more cuts slightly deeper on my pale wrist I watched the blood trickle into the sink. So beautifully tragic. I washed out the cuts and used toilet paper to stop the blood somewhat. When I was all cleaned up and blood free I went back to my bedroom and fell back on the bed once again. Sleep came easily but I was constantly woken by nightmares I had. Nightmares of my rape and such, all I could see was the men who raped me. Their laughs, their voices... they haunted me and I wished it would end.

** I woke up to loud knocking on my door. Slipping out of bed I shivered as my feet padded along the cold floor. Martinez was standing outside my door with a blank face, he was wearing his usual backwards baseball cap with cleaner jeans and plain t-shirt. He looked over my appearance and his eyes landed on my marred wrists but I quickly hid it.

"Yeah?" I asked lightly, still tired.

"Are you coming to breakfast? I'm leaving now if you want to go with me." Martinez offered.

"Sure, give me five." I let him come inside and left him in the living area so I could use the restroom to clean up. I combed my fingers through my hair and splashed cold water on my blotchy face. Good enough. Exiting the bathroom I found Martinez inspecting my kitchen, his face hard. "Ready." He gave a nod and we left my apartment and down the stairs to the street. We walked back through the alley towards the mess hall and many people greeted Martinez. Some called him by his last name and others by Caesar, his real name. It suited him, it was different. The mess hall was filled up, but not fully, open tables were spread out and many people sat by themselves. After getting some food, we both walked to an empty table and sat. It was awkward only because we weren't talking to each other. I fiddled with my food and pushed it around on my plate.

"You know you shouldn't let that go to waste." Martinez's voice made me glance up. "It's limited." I nodded and took a bite of my now cold eggs and soggy fruit. My stomach lurched at the taste but I ignored it, not wanting to complain about the food. When I finished most of it I looked up to see Martinez waiting for me to finish, leaning back in his chair. "I'll take it." He grabbed my soiled plates and walked off to a dish bin to dispose of our plates. When he came back I was already standing up, waiting for him to lead me out of the building.

"Thanks." I mumbled.

"Can I ask you a question?" Martinez questioned as we walked down the street, people dodging us.

"Depends." I felt anxiety crawl up my throat.

"Your wrist, why'd you do that?"

"Uhm," _of course_, I thought, "felt like it." He looked over at me with an incredulous expression.

"Because you _felt_ like it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, you can't do that to yourself!"

"I can do whatever I want, Martinez. It's my choice, just like how I wanted to die but you saved me. That one wasn't planned because I had no idea there were any other survivors." I shrugged at him and saw his fists clench.

"There has to be a reason."

"There is, but I'm not obliged to tell you." I stopped talking after that and he stopped asking questions, thankfully. We walked in silence and turned into the alley, making our way home. Rounding the corner I rammed into a body and fell backwards, arms caught me and steadied me. I looked up to see a man in his fifties with gray hair and stubble staring at me with a smirk. On his one arm he had a metal piece that looked lethal.

"Hey there, sugar." The man smirked and his eyes roamed my body. "Wanna little Merle action?" I looked at him in disgust and was about to retort when a voice interrupted me.

"Back off, Merle." Martinez hissed and I felt his arm tighten around me slightly.

"Shove off, border hopper." Merle chuckled at his racist comment.

"Whatever." Martinez pushed me past Merle and we left the alley listening to Merle's laughter. "Ignore that guy, he's a dick. Good shot, though."

"I could tell he was a dick by the way he was looking at me."

"If he ever touches you or says something, tell me." Martinez stated in a serious tone. "I'm being serious, anything he says or does that makes you uncomfortable. Merle is persistent about stuff he wants."

"I will." I nodded as we entered the small lobby of our duplex.

"Bye." He gave a wave and we went our separate ways with no further words said.


End file.
